


A Safe Haven

by TheAsexualofSpades



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: ALL THE FLUFF, Aftermath of Torture, Connor Nines and Markus are brothers cause they're all RK series, Connor is better at emotions than nines but like only slightly, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone is Badass, He's complicated but like wouldn't you be?, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, I wanna pillow room wtf, Nines is hurt, RK900's name is Nines, but also a badass, even Sumo, soft nines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 09:51:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16195115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAsexualofSpades/pseuds/TheAsexualofSpades
Summary: The RK900 model deviates faster than any android on record.After being recovered on a raid of CyberLife Tower, it is brought back to Jericho to help with the advancing of the androids' rights movement and because Connor and Markus vouch for their brother.CyberLife, of course, is not going to take the complete upheaval of their company lying down. And Kamski wants to do a more...thorough evaluation of the more recent prototype.Nines volunteers for a mission that will involve discussing the movement with Kamski, trying to understand the origins of rA9 and why deviancy occurs.Why on earth would it be that simple?





	A Safe Haven

**Author's Note:**

> Hellooooo! Yes I know I do most of the exposition in the summary shut up. I know this sounds angsty but there's so much fluff I promise.

Jericho moved into an apartment building after the revolution. For the most part, it's an efficient system; everything is in one building, and there's no need to worry about security over a large area. However, when they have to conduct mission business, there's nowhere for them to run when the broadcast echoes over the network. 

 

As of right now, they're gathered around the terminal that up until a few minutes ago, displayed a live feed from Kamski. 

 

"So the feed went dark, what does that mean?" Hank asks.

 

"If we're lucky," Josh says, scrolling up through the time stamps, "it means Nines escaped and he's headed back here."

 

Hank snorts. "When are we ever lucky?"

 

"I've been analyzing the energy surges," Connor interrupts, LED cycling yellow, "and there is a high probability that Nines  _did_ escape and is able to return home."

 

"What the fuck were we thinking, letting him go to Kamski's alone like that?" North paces up and down in front of them. "Practically handed him over on a silver platter. We should've known Kamski would pull some bullshit stunt like that."

 

"They made Nines like me," Connor says quietly, "an improved version. I thought that meant they made his emotions less...emotional."

 

"CyberLife have no idea what they're doing when it comes to emotions, son," Hank scoffs, "and Kamski knows it. He knew if he threatened anyone else Nines would jump to defend them once he went deviant. And the fact that we're all comin' off the revolution? Sick bastard knew Nines would still be sensitive about risking android lives after the war."

 

"There's no use thinking about that now," Markus interjects, "we have to think about how we're going to get him home."

 

"Well, we can't track him," Simon says, pointing to the data, "Kamski disabled that feature. Or maybe Nines did after escaping so CyberLife couldn't find him."

 

"It's pretty obvious where he's going to go," North argues, "none of that shit Kamski said was true. He's no coward, and he's smart enough to evade whatever CyberLife sent after him."

 

They fall to debating between them. None of them notice the elevator climbing up the building.

 

The elevator doors open on the building’s communal floor. As soon as they do, Sumo trots out towards the kitchen area. There're leftover crumbs on the floor that he snaps up quickly, his sniffer pointing him in the direction of the control room down the hall. He nudges the door open and boofs.

 

“Sumo!”

 

Connor breaks away from the group huddled around the monitors and crouches down. Sumo gives an enthusiastic _boof_ and flops down onto his side. Hank looks at them and frowns.

 

“The fuck is he doin’ here? We left him at - hey, where are you guys going?”

 

Markus ducks around a confused Connor and rushes to the living room, North, Josh, and Simon following close behind. They stop once they round the corner.

 

Nines is back.

 

He’s kneeling just outside the elevator, hands raised, head down, every inch of him screaming ‘I surrender.’

 

Thirium is splattered over his hands and down his arms, mixing with human blood to create a nauseating purple. He's wearing a mockery of Chloe’s blue dress, but in white, and covered in scratches and tears.

 

He looks up at them and North stifles a gasp.

 

They saw Kamski remove the protocol that creates his synthetic skin over his chassis during the live feed, but the long, rusty scratch marks along the left side of his face are even worse in person. He sees them flinch and looks away.

 

“I guess I really am a coward.” His laugh creaks and groans on borderline hysterical, his vocal processor screeching and glitching with static. “A cowardly monster.” His voice chokes off and if possible he sinks into the floor even more.

 

He's terrified. Of _them._

 

Simon takes a moment to look at him. _Really_ look. This isn’t a monster who kills without reason or remorse. This isn’t a heartless machine who treats lives as statistics. This is the victim of a hostage situation that traded his life for theirs. This is a child, covered in blood from a war he shouldn’t have to fight, curled up at the mercy of people he’s afraid of.

 

This is _Nines_ _._

 

He makes his decision. Ignoring the confused look from Josh and North’s hissed warning, Simon walks over to the kitchen and takes a large bowl to the sink to fill it with warm water. He takes the soft towel hanging over the oven handle and starts walking slowly across the room to Nines.

 

He flinches slightly as he kneels in front of him, looking up at him warily from where his head is lowered. Slowly, he reaches up to take one of Nines' arms.

 

“Let’s get some of this blood off of you, okay?” He guides his shaking arm down so he can position it over the bowl. He dips the towel into the water and begins to clean Nines' hand. The thirium hasn’t fully dried yet, so it comes off easily. In the places where it’s purple, it sticks to his skin so he rubs harder. He winces and his other arm, still raised over his head, swings down as if to bat his away.

 

He turns to avoid the brunt of the blow, but before it connects, a wounded noise escapes his throat and he throws his arm out of the way like it’s been burned. Simon’s heart aches.

 

He’s terrified, vulnerable, and he still won’t let his self-defense protocols hurt him.

 

He gentles his touch, choosing instead to rub persistently at the patches instead of scrubbing them away. The old protocols from his time before becoming deviant resurface.

 

_Move slowly. Be gentle. They’re afraid, not necessarily of you, so don’t make them fear you. Take care of them._

 

As he cleans his arm he sees his head jerk up. Glancing behind him, he sees North coming towards them, holding one of Connor's weighted blankets in her hands. She stops when she sees Nines' expression, holding the blanket out like a peace offering and moving gradually towards them. When she nears, she makes to go behind Nines and he turns quickly, almost yanking his arm out of Simon’s grasp.

 

“I thought you might be cold,” North says, and Simon almost smirks at Nines' expression. North didn’t use her gentle voice very often. It seems to work though, and Nines relaxes enough to let North move behind him and drape the blanket over his shoulders, his biocomponents relaxing as the familiar sensations relieve some of the stress. North crouches behind him, kneeling upright so her head is above Nines' and her hands come to rest on his shoulders.

 

“I won’t let them hurt you,” she murmurs, applying soft pressure to Nines' muscles until they unclench and his arms drift slowly to the ground. As Simon continues to wash his hand, North rubs his shoulders, remembering how Lucy comforted her when she first arrived at Jericho, trembling in a skimpy set of lingerie and staring at the ground, and how Connor needs physical contact whenever his advanced sensors become overstimulated. A new wave of anger bubbles up in her throat but she pushes it away. Now is not the time to get angry when there are none here who deserve it. Instead, she serves as Nines' sentry, not that he needed one here, her hands reminding Nines that he could relax. North would watch his back for a while.

 

She watches Josh and Markus join them, Markus lifting his hand to look at the burn behind Nines' ear from where Kamski disabled his skin, Josh easing his now clean arm to clench lightly at the blanket to ground him.

 

Simon finishes washing his second hand, letting Markus twist it into the blanket, and twists the towel over the bowl to wring it out.

 

“Mom?”

 

They look toward the staircase in the corner of the room that leads up to the den. Alice appears at the top of the staircase, followed shortly by Luther’s huge form. The child walks down the rest of the stairs and cautiously approaches the group.

 

“Alice wanted to see Kara,” Luther explains quietly.

 

Josh nods towards the control room. “She’s in there.”

 

Luther nods his thanks and holds his hand out. “Come on, little one, Mom’s this way.”

 

Alice doesn’t respond but approaches where Nines is using Markus as a shield. She ducks around him and rests her little hand on the scars on Nines' face. Nines flinches slightly but lets her.

 

The five watch the two warily, Alice staring unabashedly at the scars and Nines trembling as she touched them. Suddenly, Alice took her hand away, turning around to grab Luther’s still outstretched hand and pull him towards the control room. Nines looks slowly back down at the ground. Markus glances at Simon who shrugs and goes to empty the bowl. Nines' hands are still shaking and they begin to move upwards again. Quickly, Josh laces his fingers through his right hand as Markus does the same to his left. He starts as if they’ve pinned him. North continues to rub his shoulders until he relaxes slightly.

 

“See?”

 

They look up. Nines freezes.

 

Alice is back, pointing at Nines, dragging Kara by one hand into the room. Luther hovers anxiously behind them. Alice continues. “I told you, Nines is hurt. We have to do something!”

 

Kara looks up at them, seeing North, Josh, and Markus move closer to Nines. She crouches down in front of Alice. “I understand you want to help him, that’s very kind of you, but sometimes we have to let other people help instead, okay?”

 

“Why can’t we help? Doesn’t he like us?”

 

“He does, Alice, but he’s scared.”

 

“Why is he scared?”

 

Kara looks over. Nines is clenching his hands as they shake, but every time he does, he hisses and pulls back slightly. He won’t let himself lean towards Josh or Markus despite their encouragement.

 

“He’s scared he’s going to hurt somebody on accident, Alice,” she says finally, “so the best way we can help him is by keeping ourselves safe. That means waiting until he feels better to get very close to him or try to help.”

 

“Oh,” Alice says, “okay.”

 

Kara stands and pulls Alice to the side. Luther takes her other hand and they watch the three talk quietly amongst themselves, trying to pull Nines out of his head. It starts to work; his shoulders relax a bit more and his chin drops to his chest. Josh smiles as North rubs his shoulders encouragingly and he gives Nines' hand a squeeze.

 

“Do you think we can fix the protocol?”

 

Markus looks over at him, matching his tone. “I think it’s possible, I’m sure some copies have been made, so we can figure it out. If we can’t replicate it exactly, we can try and use the same technology that gives us our synthetic skin.”

 

“Okay, good.” Josh rubs his hand. “That’s good.”

 

“Jesus, Conner, slow down, you’re gonna — “

 

Hank skids to a halt to avoid smashing into Connor who freezes next to Kara and Alice. He glances around to Simon at the sink to North who pulls Nines back as Connor takes a step forward.

 

Nines is still kneeling on the floor between Markus and Josh. Connor looks at each of them in turn, asking silently. Markus nods first and moves away, Josh following suit, leaving North holding Nines against her. She frowns at Connor as he gets closer, feeling Nines tense again. He doesn’t break eye contact, but something in his face convinces her to let go of Nines and step back.

 

He stops in front of him. Nines' hands shake as they fidget with the hem of the blanket. Every so often they try to clench into fists only to have him flex them open again. Nines is trying to show him he wasn’t going to fight by fighting his instincts.

 

He crouches in front of his brother, silently asking him to look up at him, or at least move his gaze from the floor. He bends down slightly to look at his eyes. Glassy. A quick scan shows his stress level is dangerously high; it is likely his stress levels haven’t altered since arriving. He looks for some way to help.

 

Oh.

 

Oh _no._

 

He’s scared of him because of what happened the last time an android that claimed to be ‘Connor’ talked to him.

 

Slowly, he reaches a hand towards his twitching on the floor. As he does so, the skin on his hand peels back to reveal the plain white chassis. He stops before he touches him, asking. It takes a second — 1.78 seconds — but his hand turns palm up. He takes it carefully and opens the link.

 

He doesn’t pay attention to the swirling messages and errors on his HUD and instead focuses on sending the message.

 

_I forgive you._

 

He sees the scenes from Kamski’s again, this time from his perspective.

 

_I forgive you._

 

He sees the RK900 model shaking on the floor in front of him as Amanda traps its consciousness in a failing body.

 

_I forgive you._

 

He sees the Zen garden falling to pieces, disintegrating as he destroys it.

 

_I forgive you._

 

He sees the RK800s Kamski used to prevent his escape torn to pieces and the thirium soaking his skin.

 

_I forgive you._

 

He sees the view of Jericho from outside, and hears a disembodied version of Amanda say: ‘what will they think of you now?’

 

_I forgive you._

 

Connor opens his eyes and looks down at Nines, who’s now looking up at him. He’s still shaking. Badly. But his eyes aren’t glassy anymore. He leans down and presses his forehead to his brother's.

 

“I forgive you.”

 

“Oh, for chrissake, just give the poor kid a damn cuddle already.” Hank’s gruff voice cuts the silence. Connor draws back enough to see Nines nod slightly before complying with Hank’s suggestion enthusiastically.

 

Nines gives a surprised little _oof_ when his arms wrap around his waist and he buries his head in his shoulder. He can hear Markus laugh as she joins them, snuggling up to Nines' back. It doesn’t take long for North, Simon, and Josh to join them.

 

“Wait, hold on, no,” Kara's voice stops them before they get too comfortable, “if we’re doing this we’re doing it right. Come on.”

 

Vague noises of protest come from the group until Kara and Luther pry them apart and reach for Nines. Surprisingly, he doesn’t resist as Kara helps him down the hall. The rest of them follow behind as they walk to a door that opens into a room filled entirely with cushions, pillows, and blankets. Alice gives an enthusiastic squeal and dives headfirst into a big, plushy mound and snuggles into a pillow. Connor follows suit, picking a spot amidst a group of fluffy purple cushions and holding out his arms. Kara deposits Nines into his grasp, letting him reattach himself as the rest of them settle around the two. Markus, again, is the next to latch on, followed shortly by Simon, then North, then Josh. Hank sits behind Connor as Kara and Luther bridge the gap between Alice and Connor. Sumo catches up to them and buries his nose into Hank’s lap, tail thumping the cushions. 

 

In the middle, Connor can feel Nines go limp against him, stress levels finally dipping below 60%. They’ll have to clean up properly at some point, and deal with what’s happened, but not now.

 

Now he needs to rest.

**Author's Note:**

> So? what did we think? Please tell me if you think anyone's OOC, I tried but SOMEBODY didn't develop the canon characters well enough (*cough cough*) so I tried my best.


End file.
